Jack Shepherd will enjoy cushy time in jail away from violence, Report

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Jack Shepherd will enjoy cushy time in jail away from violence, Report
Jack Shepherd will enjoy cushy time in jail away from violence, Report

Arrogant fugitive Jack Shepherd says his manslaughter conviction after Charlotte Brown’s death on the River Thames in London was a “miscarriage of justice”

Arrogant speedboat killer Jack Shep­­herd claims his life will be at risk if he is sent back to Britain, a court heard.

Lawyers for the fugitive fight­­ing extradition from Georgia went all out for sympathy.

In a farcical hearing they dub­­­bed his conviction for the man­­slaughter of Charlotte Brown, 24, “a miscarriage of justice”.

They criticised the British legal system. And they insisted his Old Bailey trial – which he fled to avoid justice – was “unfair”.

Shepherd, 31, was even al­­­lowed to make an emotional state­­ment saying he was an innocent man who just wanted to get on with the rest of his life.

But the judge was having none of it and sent him to join the murderers, rapists and paedophiles in Tblisi’s notorious No8 jail until the case is settled.

Shepherd’s lawyer Tariel Kaka­badz had told the court: “Threats were levelled at him by the father of the deceased girl who holds an influential position in the pri­­­son system.

“He was told that if he ends up in a British prison he will face a lot of problems that would be ad­­­verse to his health and life.”

In his speech Shepherd, voice quaking, spoke of the night his boat cap­sized on the Thames, throwing Charlotte, who he had let drive, to her death.

He said: “It is my greatest regret. Not a day passes when I don’t think about the loss of Charlotte’s life.”

But prosecutor Ket­­evan Gur­­ash­­vili said Shepherd, who gave himself up to police on Wednes­­day, was a “clever man” with con­­tacts who “planned to flee to Thai­­­­land or Indonesia”.

Meanwhile, more details em­­­erged about his 10 months in Georgia. An­­­other of his legal team, Mariam Kub­­lashvili, who was in the Georgian version of Strictly Come Dancing , said he worked as a web designer and “moved around various flats which he paid for himself”.

She claimed his July trial, at which he was sentenced to six years in his absence, was unfair “because the jury did not hear from him”.

Charlotte’s dad Graham said that far from being a government figure, he is “just a bloke from Sidcup trying to cope with losing my daughter”.

Shepherd’s prison has been dubbed Georgia’s Abu Ghraib.

In 2012 guards were filmed beating and sexually abusing inmates with broom handles.

It will be a far cry from his days on the run, living the high life and taking trips to nearby ski resorts.

Some reports said he had a steady girlfriend as he moved from flat to flat to escape notice.

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